The Association Between Women’s Empowerment and Physical Intimate Partner Violence in Afghanistan

Abstract

This study delves into the intricate association between women’s empowerment and physical intimate partner violence (PIPV) in Afghanistan. In this country, nearly half of all women have experienced PIPV at some point in their lifetime. Utilizing data from the Afghanistan Demographic and Health Survey 2015, a nationally representative survey of women and men aged 15 to 49 years, this study employs multiple logistic regression analysis to elucidate the association between women’s empowerment and PIPV prevalence. The findings reveal a compelling association between women’s empowerment and lower PIPV risk. Women with higher levels of education and income, considered empowered individuals, exhibit a lower likelihood of experiencing PIPV. In addition, rural women face a heightened risk of PIPV compared to their urban counterparts. In contrast, women residing in the poorest quintile are twice as likely to endure PIPV compared to those in the wealthiest quintile. Notably, the husband’s educational attainment also bears a significant inverse relationship with IPV occurrence. These findings underscore the transformative potential of education and economic empowerment in safeguarding Afghan women from PIPV. The implications of this study extend to policymakers, particularly the international community and the United Nations, who are actively engaged in PIPV reduction efforts in Afghanistan. Investing in the educational empowerment of Afghan women holds immense promise in alleviating the scourge of PIPV.

Keywords

intimate partner violence women’s empowerment women’s educational empowerment women’s economic empowerment Afghanistan

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Abrahams

Jewkes

Laubscher

Hoffman

(2006). Intimate partner violence: Prevalence and risk factors for men in Cape Town, South Africa. Violence and Victims, 21(2), 247–264.

Ackerson

L. K.

Subramanian

(2016). State gender inequality, socioeconomic status and intimate partner violence (IPV) in India: A multilevel analysis. Australian Journal of Social Issues, 43(1), 81–102.

Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC). (2013). Violence against women (2013 biennial report). aihrc.org.af. April. https://www.aihrc.org.af/media/files

Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC). (2016). Violence against women, causes, effects and condition of violence against women in Afghanistan. aihrc.org.af. November. https://www.aihrc.org.af/media/files

Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC). (2019). Summary report on violence against women. aihrc.org.af

Akilova

Marti

Y. M.

(2014). What is the effect of women’s financial empowerment on intimate partner violence. Global Social Welfare, 1(2), 65–74. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40609-014-0005-x

Al-Nsour

Khawaja

Al-Kayyali

(2009). Domestic violence against women in Jordan: Evidence from health clinics. Journal of Family Violence, 24, 569–575. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-009-9255-2

Barr

(2024). The Taliban and the global backlash against women’s rights. Human Rights Watch. https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/02/06/taliban-and-global-backlash-against-womens-rights

Bengesai

A. V.

Derera

(2021). The association between women’s empowerment and emotional violence in Zimbabwe: A cluster analysis approach. SAGE Open, 11(2), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440211021399

10.

Bonnes

(2016). Education and income imbalances among married couples in Malawi as predictors for the likelihood of physical and emotional intimate partner violence. Violence and Victims, 31(1), 51–70.

11.

Bourey

Musci

R. J.

Bass

J. K.

Glass

Matabaro

Kelly

J. T.

(2024). Drivers of men’s use of intimate partner violence in conflict-affected settings: Learnings from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Conflict and Health, 18(1), 9. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13031-023-00562-5

12.

Choi

S. Y. P.

Ting

K. -F.

(2008). Wife beating in South Africa an imbalance theory of resources and power. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 23(6), 834–852.

13.

Conroy

A. A.

(2013). Gender, power, and intimate gender, power, and intimate partner violence: A study on couples from rural Malawi. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 29(5), 866–888. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260513505907

14.

CSO. (2009). National risk and vulnerability assessment, 2007/08 a profile of Afghanistan. Central Statistic Organization of Afghanistan.

15.

CSO, MoPH, & ICF. (2017). Afghanistan Demographic and Health Survey 2015. Central Statistic Organization, Ministry of Public Health, and ICF.

16.

Cunningham

Anderson

(2023). Women experience more intimate partner violence than men over the life course: Evidence for gender asymmetry at all ages in a national sample. Sex Roles, 89, 702–717. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-023-01423-4

17.

Dadras

Hazratzai

Dadras

(2023). Intimate partner violence and children under 5 morbidities and mortality in Afghanistan: Findings from a national survey. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 38(17–18), 10105–10126. https://doi.org/10.1177/08862605231169774

18.

Dadras

Nakayama

Kihara

Ono-Kihara

Dadras

(2022). Intimate partner violence and unmet need for family planning in Afghan women: The implication for policy and practice. Reproductive Health, 19(1), 52. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12978-022-01362-5

19.

Dalal

(2011). Does economic empowerment protect women from intimate partner violence? Journal of Injury and Violence Research, 3(1), 35–44. https://doi.org/10.5249/jivr.v3i1.76

20.

Dalal

Dahlström

Timpka

(2013). Interactions between microfinance programmes and non-economic empowerment of women associated with intimate partner violence in Bangladesh: A cross sectional study. BMJ 3(12), e002941. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2013-002941

21.

DHS. (2021). Demographic and Health Survey program. 4.2. http://www.dhsprogram.com/countries

22.

Easar

Azizi

Rahmani

Moradi

Taieb

Faqiryar

W. N.

(2023). Education in Afghanistan since 2001: Evolutions and rollbacks. (Research Series of Rumi Organization for Research). Rumi Organization for Research.

23.

Echavez

C. R.

Mosawi

Pilongo

L. W.

(2016). The other side of gender inequality: Men and masculinities in Afghanistan. Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit.

24.

Ehsan

Akrami

S. O.

Ghafoori

(2021). The impact of poverty and education on female child marriage in Afghanistan: Evidence from 2015 Afghanistan Demographic and Health Survey. 19 Mayis Journal of Social Sciences, 2(2), 418–431. https://doi.org/10.52835/19maysbd.897102

25.

Ekhator-Mobayode

U. E.

Hanmer

L. C.

Rubiano-Matulevich

Arango

D. J.

(2022). The effect of armed conflict on intimate partner violence: Evidence from the Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria. World Development, 153, 105780. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2021.105780

26.

Fakir

A. M.

Anjum

Bushra

Nawar

(2016). The endogeneity of domestic violence: Understanding women’s empowerment through autonomy. World Development Perspectives, 2, 34–42. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wdp.2016.09.002

27.

Garcia-Moreno

(2002). Violence against women: Consolidating a public health agenda. In Sen

George

Östlin

(Eds.), Engendering international health: The challenge of equity (pp. 111–141). MIT Press.

28.

García-Moreno

Tjondronegoro

Ellsberg

Heise

Watts

(2013). Preventing violence against women: What does the evidence say? https://www.who.int/publications-detail-redirect/violence-prevention-the-evidence

29.

Gibbs

Corboz

Shafiq

Marofi

Mecagni

Mann

Karim

Chirwa

Maxwell-Jones

Jewkes

(2018). An individually randomized controlled trial to determine the effectiveness of the Women for Women International Programme in reducing intimate partner violence and strengthening livelihoods amongst women in Afghanistan: Trial design, methods and baseline. BMC Public Health, 18(1), 164. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-018-5029-1

30.

Gupta

Falb

K. L.

Lehmann

Kpebo

Xuan

Hossain

Zimmerman

Watts

Annan

(2013). Gender norms and economic empowerment intervention to reduce intimate partner violence against women in rural Côte d’Ivoire: A randomized controlled pilot study. BMC International Health and Human Rights, 13, 46.

31.

Jeweks

(2002). Intimate partner violence: causes and prevention. Violence Against Women, 359, 1423–1429.

32.

Jewkes

Levin

Penn-Kekanaa

(2002). Risk factors for domestic violence: Findings from a South African cross-sectional study. Social Science & Medicine, 55(9), 1603–1617.

33.

Kamran

Jalal

(2009). A study of the social factors affecting family violence among the families in Tabriz. Journal of Sociology Studies, 1(1), 124–151.

34.

Khatir

A. G.

Ariyo

Jiang

(2024). Armed conflicts and experience of intimate partner violence among women in Afghanistan: analysis of the 2015 Afghanistan DHS data. BMJ Open, 14, e075957. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2023-075957

35.

Kima

Motseib

(2002). ”Women enjoy punishment”: attitudes and experiences of gender-based violence among PHC nurses in rural South Africa. Social Science & Medicine, 54, 1243–1254.

36.

Munguía

J. A. T.

Martínez-Zarzoso

(2022). Determinants of emotional partner violence against women and girls with children in mexican households: A ecological framework. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 37(23–24), NP22704–NP22731. https://doi.org/10.1177/08862605211072179.

37.

Murshid

N. S.

Critelli

F. M.

(2020). Empowerment and intimate partner violence in Pakistan: Results from a nationally representative survey. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 35(3–4), 854–875. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260517690873

38.

Oyekale

A. S.

(2014). Ethnic characterization of gender-inequality and domestic violence against women of reproductive ages in Nigeria. Studies of Tribes and Tribals, 12(1), 31–41. https://doi.org/10.1080/0972639X.2014.11886684

39.

Qamar

Harris

M. A.

Tustin

J. L.

(2022). The association between child marriage and domestic violence in Afghanistan. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 37(5–6), 2948–2961. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260520951310

40.

Rahman

Hoque

Makinoda

(2011). Intimate partner violence against women: Is women’s empowerment a reducing factor? A study from a National Bangladeshi Sample. Journal of family and Violence, 26, 411–420. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-011-9375-3

41.

Raj

Silvermana

J. G.

Klugman

Saggurti

Donta

Shakya

H. B.

(2018). Longitudinal analysis of the impact of economic empowerment on risk for intimate partner violence among married women in rural Maharashtra, India. Social Science & Medicine, 196, 197–203. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.11.042

42.

Ranganathan

Knight

Abramsky

Muvhango

Ngwato

T. P.

Mbobelatsi

Ferrari

Watts

Stöckl

(2019). Associations between women’s economic and social empowerment and intimate partner violence: Findings from a microfinance plus program in rural Northwest Province, South Africa. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 34(7), 1–29. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260519836952

43.

Reichel

(2017). Determinants of intimate partner violence in Europe: The role of socioeconomic status, inequality, and partner behavior. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 32(12), 1853–1873. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260517698951

44.

Rennison

Planty

(2003). Nonlethal intimate partner violence: Examining race, gender, and income patterns. Violence and Victims, 18(4), 433–443.

45.

Schuler

S. R.

Lenzi

Badal

S. H.

Bates

L. M.

(2017). Wowmen’s empowerment as a protective factor against intimate partner violence in Bangladesh: A qualitative exploration of the process and limitations of its influence. Violence Against Women, 23(9), 1100–1121.

46.

Schuler

S. R.

Nazneen

(2018). Does intimate partner violence decline as women’s empowerment becomes normative? Perspectives of Bangladeshi women. World Development 101, 284–292. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2017.09.005

47.

Shinwari

Wilson

M. L.

Abiodun

Shaikh

M. A.

(2022). Intimate partner violence among ever-married Afghan women: Patterns, associations and attitudinal acceptance. Archives of Women’s Mental Health, 25, 95–105. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00737-021-01143-2

48.

South Africa DHS. (2016). South Africa demographic and health survey 2016: Key indicator report. Statistics South Africa.

49.

Stern

Willan

Gibbs

Myrttinen

Washington

Sikweyiya

Addo-Lartey

Mastonshoeva

Jewkes

(2021). Pathways of change: Qualitative evaluations of intimate partner violence prevention programmes in Ghana, Rwanda, South Africa and Tajikistan. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 23(12), 1700–1716. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691058.2020.1801843

50.

Stöckl

Hassan

Ranganathan

Hatcher

A. M.

(2021). Economic empowerment and intimate partner violence: A secondary data analysis of the cross-sectional Demographic Health Surveys in Sub-Saharan Africa. BMC Women’s Health, 21(1), 241. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-021-01363-9

51.

United Nations. (2024, February). Drastic erosion of women’s rights in Afghanistan continues. The United Nations. https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/02/1146642

52.

Yolchi

(2019). Gender inequality in students’ monthly allowance in the university level (a case study of Takhar and Baghlan universities—AFG). The Sakarya Journal of Economics, 8(3), 189–199.

Supplementary Material

Please find the following supplemental material available below.

For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.

For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.

0.00 MB

0.02 MB

0.03 MB